By my reckoning, there are not many well known tunes using a U.S. State by itself as a song title. Many States are mentioned in song titles (e.g. "Kentucky Woman", "All The Way From Texas", "Jersey Girl", etc.), and virtually every State is mentioned in a lyric somewhere. That makes this Mt. Rushmore unique for this series - a finite sample to select from. Here are my four, ordered chronologically.
1.) Georgia: A two for one deal on this State song. First, the great Hoagy Carmichael standard, most famously done by the incomparable Ray Charles. Then much later, a terrific Boz Scaggs tune from his blockbuster album "Silk Degrees".
2.) Ohio: An angry classic by Crosby, Stills, Nash & composer Neil Young. (Neil did another State too, remember? Maybe on your Mt. Rushmore?)
3.) Colorado: Beautiful ballad written by Rick Roberts. My favorite version is Linda Ronstadt's.
4.) Illinois: Lesser known but equally stunning ballad from Dan Fogelberg's album "Souvenirs". Anyone care to waltz?
New York, New York is disqualified from this iteration of Mt. Rushmore; Kander & Ebb refer to the city in that winner. Perhaps a future Mt. Rushmore will be classic city songs, but first I want to hear some of you weigh in on this State version - no fair using Google.
About Me
- Pat Barton
- My most recent single release - "My True North" - is now available on Bandcamp. Open my profile and click on "audio clip".
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